Poland has claimed to have deployed its own air defenses and those of NATO to tear down drones over its territory after the repeated violations of its airspace during a Russian attack against Ukraine. This is the first time in the Ukraine War, which started with the Russian invasion in February 2022, in which Warsaw faces Russian assets in their airspace.
“An operation related to the repeated violation of Polish airspace is being carried out,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in X at dawn on Wednesday. “The Army has used armament against the objectives.” The operational command of the Polish Armed Forces has spoken of an “act of aggression” and an “unprecedented violation” of its airspace, which has forced to close several airports already convene a meeting of the National Security Assembly.
At six in the morning local time, Tusk published: “I have informed the NATO secretary about the current situation and the measures we have taken with respect to the objects that violated our airspace. We maintain constant contact. I have received a report from the operational commander of the Armed Forces on the demolition of drones that invaded our airspace and could have represented a threat. The operation continues.”
In a later message, Tusk has confirmed that the Polish airspace “was violated by a large number of Russian drones.” “Those drones that represented a direct threat were demolished. I am in constant communication with the secretary general of NATO and our allies,” he adds. The Atlantic Alliance has confirmed that its aerial defenses have helped cope with unmanned aerial vehicles.
In addition, Tusk has announced that it will invoke article 4 of the NATO Treaty, which contemplates that the allies “will be consulted when, in the opinion of any of them, territorial integrity, political independence or the security of any of the parties was threatened.” The Polish Prime Minister has affirmed that the invocation of article 4 “is only the principle” and that he expects a “great support from the allies against” the confrontation that Russia has declared to the free world. ”
Near noon, NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, has given more details of the operation. Rutte explained that in the operation to reduce the drones that have entered the Polish airspace “several allies were involved together with Poland”, among which he has included forces from Netherlands, Italy and Germany. The NATO Secretary General has specified that Poles F16 combat aircraft, F35 War Aircraft from the Netherlands, AWACS Surveillance Airplanes of Italy and Patriots missiles in Germany, in addition to NATO flight replacement planes have participated.
Rutte has denounced “Russia’s reckless behavior” and has clarified that it is not “an isolated incident”, without wanting to enter whether it was an intentional fact or not. Like the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in the speech on the states of the Union, the general secretary of the Atlantist military organization has assured that “the allies are determined to defend every centimeter of allied territory” and has asked Putin to stop his military climbing in Ukraine and end the attacks against the civilian population.
For his part, Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz declared to be in contact with NATO’s command and urged citizens to comply with the instructions of the Army and the Police, no longer approach the remains of the drones.
The president of the country, Karol Nawrocki, was informed about the situation, according to the National Security Office in a statement.
During the night, four airports were temporarily closed due to an “unplanned military activity related to state security”, according to the guidelines published by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States.
According to the statement, both Warsaw airports were affected by the incident, along with a smaller port in the eastern city of Lublin and an important logistics and weapons transfer center in the sweaty city of Rzesów. The Polish authorities did not officially confirm the closure of any airport.
The first reports on possible violations of Polish airspace emerged on Tuesday night, after the Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian drones had entered the Polish airspace, which represented a threat to the city of Zamość. Subsequently, the Ukrainian Air Force eliminated this declaration of the Telegram messaging application.
In the United States, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said that repeated violations of NATO airspace by Russian drones were a sign that “Vladimir Putin is testing our determination to protect Poland and Baltic countries.”
“After the massacre that Putin continues to cause in Ukraine, these incursions cannot be ignored,” he said in X.
The incursion denounced by Poland occurs a day after the newly elected nationalist president of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, warned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was willing to invade more countries after launching his war in Ukraine.
“We do not trust the good intentions of Vladimir Putin,” Nawrocki told the press on Tuesday at a press conference in Helsinki.
The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, has said that at least eight drones have headed towards Poland. “An extremely dangerous precedent for Europe. That more measures are taken completely on the coordination and firmness of the response,” he said in X. “There are more and more evidence that indicates that this movement, this address of the attack, was not accidental. They have already registered previous incidents of Russian drones that crossed the border and toured short distances towards neighboring countries. But this time, we are registering a deliberate attack. Scale, ”he added in another tweet.
The head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, last night, in Poland, has branded what happened as “the most serious violation of European airspace by Russia since the war began” and has also indicated that “everything indicates that it was intentionally, not accidental.” The defense commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, has said that the EU must urgently develop a “drone wall” along the eastern flank.
Moscow’s response, for now, is limited to ensuring that there is no proof that the devices involved have Russian origin. The Russian business manager in Warsaw, Andréi Ordash, convened by Poland to deliver a protest note, says that the accusations are “unfounded” and that Warsaw “has not presented any proof that these drones have Russian origin.” The Kremlin spokesman has said that the European Union and NATO accuse Moscow of “provocations” and that “in most cases” those accusations come “without even trying to present arguments.”
Poland has been on a maximum alert for the entry of objects into its airspace since a lost Ukrainian missile hit a village in the south of the country in 2022, killing two people, a few months after the large -scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia. However, it has not been reported that Poles or Allied defense systems have destroyed drones.
The incident occurs shortly before Russia and Belarus begin military exercises this Friday, which has raised concern for security in the region. This Tuesday, Poland announced the closure of its border with Belarus as a precautionary measure, and neighboring Lithuania also announced that it will intensify its border controls. Ukraine has reported, on the other hand, a russian mass attack with about 415 drones of various types and more than 40 cruise and ballistic missiles.
Source: www.eldiario.es
